Unconditionally
by katies-crazy-world
Summary: A leap of faith needs to be taken. - Sometimes you realize your mistakes when it's already too late. But is it ?


Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, I just borrowed them and let my imagination do the rest. ;)

"Mom" Henry calls after his sprinting mother.

_Away from me. Running from me. Running from the words I just have told her._

"Regina" I sprint after her. Luckily I'm still pretty much in shape. After Neverland I've picked up my morning run habit again, right now I'm thankful for that, because otherwise I wouldn't stand a chance to race after Regina, who has an advantage of at least 200 meters ahead of me.

_Damn, she is fast_…, Emma thinks as she reflects on the last few weeks that lead her to her current position, running after Regina to God knows where!

After coming back from Neverland both women were desperately attached to their son. Since they had developed some sort of friendship in Neverland, Regina offered Emma a room in the mansion.

Henry had announced that he would like to live with his mother in the mansion again. After being rejoiced about hearing this news Regina considered the sad look on Emma's face. She knew that Emma wouldn't hold a grudge against her for her son's decision, but still that look crushed Regina's joy of the moment tremendously. In a calm minute she had asked Emma, if she would like to stay in the guest room of the mansion with her and Henry. Needless to say Emma had been elusively grateful for that offer.

So the three of them started living together like a family, fastly growing accustomed to each other.

Regina made breakfast for them on weekday mornings, Emma made all the repairs that occured around the mansion. Henry came home from school and one of the two was already at home to help him with his homework. They ate dinner precisely at 7 o'clock and Emma made it a habit to always be on time for them. She started feeling safe and comfortable with these routines. Henry enjoyed having both his moms close to him and started to feel being home and safe again.

Slowly forgetting the horrible events from his time in Neverland.

On the weekends he stayed with his grandparents enjoying their effort in showing him parts of their history and fairytale world.

Soon Emma and Regina started spending time alone together on those weekends. Watching movies, reading, talking, laughing, sharing stories. Simply put, they started enjoying their time together. And that's when it started...

"Please, stop…" Emma said a little out of breath.

Regina in fact stopped, the muscles in her thighs aching from the unfamiliar running she just had done.

Emma stopped a meter behind her. Cautiously standing with a distance to Regina, not wanting her to feel cornered.

"What are you afraid of?" she asks as she sees Regina standing tall again, still with her back turned to Emma.

"Did I get too close? Did I get to see what's on the inside? Is that what scares you? That I've gotten to know you and still haven't run away? All your insecurities? Your past didn't make me blink one time…

Regina, I love you…" Emma wants to get nearer to her, to see her face while she tells her all this.

Somehow her wishes get granted, because Regina turns around looking at her with a broken expression on her face. Fear shining out of her dark eyes.

"No one loves me. Everyone always wants something. I've sworn myself to never let me fall for…"

"Unconditionally...I will love you unconditionally. I don't expect anything from you, Regina"

Regina shakes her head vehemently transcending herself to another place. Emma takes the two steps forward and grabs her by the hips, effectively grounding her there.

"No, you need to listen to this. You are worth it, Regina. You deserve to be loved. Don't try to convince yourself otherwise. I'd do anything for you. Haven't I proved that multiple times? I take your bad days and your good. Hell, if you asked me to...Walk through a storm - I would…."

Regina breaks loose from Emma's firm hold. She is torn between her feelings. She can't deny what Emma is telling her, she also loves her, deep down she has known for a long time. But she fights those feelings fearing they could break her.

"Stop Emma" Emma allows her the physical distance of a meter. She appears still totally calm and collected, determined to get the woman before her to see the wonderful thing that could blossom if she would just let it.

"I love you" she says calmly and continues

"and if this is not enough then I don't know what else I can do" Emma watches her intently, waiting for a reaction, something that tells her how Regina's conflicting emotions on the inside have decided.

"I'm leaving. You know where to find me, if you want to talk…" she says leaving Regina behind, feeling defeated.

But Regina doesn't come home that night. She wanders around aimlessly through Storybrooke, sitting at the pier on their bench, walking through the streets. Finally she lands at her office and crashes on her couch into an exhausted slumber and a restless night.

At home Emma is sitting downstairs with a glass of her favorite white wine. Waiting for Regina to come home, even if she doesn't want to talk just to see her. As the clock ticks indicating it is 3.00 a.m. the sound of their safety installations startles her. The gadget clicks and a green lamp illuminates telling Emma that someone is in Regina's office and has deactivated the alarm with the code.

_So she sleeps there…Okay…,_ Emma thinks sadly. Swiftly she clears another glass and then takes off her comfort shirt, a worn out black Jack Daniel's shirt, throwing it aimlessly at the other couch. After downing another glass she sadly makes her way upstairs into her room.

The next morning Regina awakes with pain in her back.

_This couch looks more comfortable than it actually is…_, Regina thinks grouchy.

She search for a clock and is appalled to see that it's already past 9 o'clock. Now she doesn't even have time to go home.

_Well, then I'm going to take a shower at home in my lunch break. But maybe Emma is going to...No, stop thinking about her, you've got work to do._

Having suppressed every conflicting feelings for Emma she makes her way home at lunch. Awaiting at least Henry at this time to be home, she is astonished to find the mansion empty.

She grabs the telephone and calls his mobile, soon he picks up.

"Henry?"

"Mom"

"Where are you?"

"I'm at my grandparents' place" Regina wonders and looks at the calendar.

"But why? It's Wednesday"

"Emma brought me here. She didn't want to leave me at home alone when she left…" the down-hearted tone in his answer awakes a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"She left? Henry,…" a thousand thoughts run through her mind, but she doesn't get to finish that sentence, because her precious little boy interrupts her.

"Mom, she left…I don't know when she'll be back. She said she needed to clear hear head or something like that" Regina's heart skips a beat.

_Emma left. She is running away. Oh god…_, her motherly instincts resurface, instantly trying to calm her boy.

"Don't worry, I'll bring her back, Henry" Regina tries to sound reassuring not quite knowing who she was trying to convince more, her son or herself.

"You promise?" He sounds so hopeful it breaks her heart.

"Of course. I promise" she swallows, but instantly regains her composure setting her mind to the mission at hand.

Not really knowing where Emma was going Regina went up to her room, searching for any hints where she could find her. As she opened the door she is shocked to see that the room is tidied up to its best. It is in an immaculate state, which frightens Regina even more. Emma always had a messy room. The blonde tried to keep at least the rest of the mansion tidy for Regina, but not her room. It had always looked like a bomb had just exploded in there.

Suddenly seeing it that neat scared her even more.

_She doesn't plan to come back…_, it dawns on Regina.

Going through the drawers she finds them completely empty. Looking around she suddenly spots a paper on the pillow. A nicely handwritten letter, addressed to her. Regina sits down on the bed and begins to read.

**Dear Regina,**

**I'm sorry.**

**I can't stay here knowing that you don't feel the same way, it hurts me too much. To see you and not being able to grab you and kiss you, care for you and chase the demons away that at night come and haunt you in your dreams.**

**And I can't continue playing happy little family. I think a break would do us all a favor.**

**I didn't want Henry to worry about anything, so I told him I'd just leave for a few days. Well, I didn't lie to our son. I will leave for a few days, to clear my head and deal with it, but afterwards I'm going to get my own place. I won't bother you any more than necessary.**

**Just know that I love you, Regina. I'll admit I have for a long time. And I probably will love you for another long time.**

**I hope you find your happily ever after, even if its not with me.**

**Yours,**

**Emma**

When she finishes with the letter the realization hits her. She doesn't want Emma to leave. She loves her. Even she doesn't want to. She does. She is in love with Emma Swan, her archenemies daughter, mother of her son. Owner of her black-worn out , - but still beating - heart.

Fastly she sprints down the stairs the letter still in her hand. As she runs through the foyer she spots a black top crumpled on her couch. Emma's favorite shirt.

_In her hurry to leave she must have forgotten it…_, Regina slows down and grabs it carefully, smelling the unique pepperminty-wooden scent that is Emma Swan. Tears threaten to spill from the corners of her eyes.

Within a heartbeat she knows where Emma has run off to. _The cabin in the woods._

Arriving with just a huge gym bag filled with her most important belongings she makes herself in her little cabin in the woods at home again. Emma loves this place. It is her personal safe place.

A beautiful two room house at the foot of a mountain next to a lake.

After stocking the fridge with a few essential things she has brought with her she goes out to collect woodblocks for the chimney. The physical exhaustion caused by wood chopping does wonders to relieve some of her stress and soon she finds herself crying. Blinking through tears she misses one of the branches and scratches her left arm open, just enough to draw a fine line of blood.

_Great… Can this day get any better?_, Emma thinks exhausted and goes inside to grab a bite, her stomach growling in appreciation.

After her short meal Emma has fallen asleep, soon she is awakened from her restless slumber by a mad storm. It's getting colder in the cabin, the wind is breezing through the wood and soon Emma finds herself inflaming a fire in the chimney. She stares out into the sparks and falls into a trance getting drowned in her thoughts.

A few minutes have passed when suddenly there is a loud knock on the door.

No one knows that Emma is there, so her first instinct is to get her gun for protection.

_Who knows what mind-twisted serial killer could wander around in the forest at night, knocking on doors?_

Cautiously she makes her way over to the door and opens it, not to find a serial killer, but a rain-soaked through to the core- Regina, whose teeth chatter. Small droplets of rain fall from her curly hair-ends.

"Regina?" Emma is surprised. Regina hugs her own chest to keep warm and motions to get inside the cabin.

"What are you doing here? I haven't told anyone where I was going. How did.." Emma asks expectant, when she takes in the state Regina is currently in.

"Why have you been walking through this storm?" Regina stands before her ending this interrogation with a firm and clear

"Shut it, Emma. You don't get to ask me anything...How could leave like that?" towards the end her voice has broken audibly. It's Emma's turn to move through the small room, grabbing a blanket.

"Later. First we need to get you warm again, you must be freezing…" she puts the blanket around Regina's shoulders careful not to look her in the eyes in the progress, afraid of not having her emotions under control. She motions Regina to sit in front of the fire and sits down besides her quietly.

A few moments of silence pass them, before Emma breaks it.

"You shouldn't be here… It's not fair to make this any harder for me, Regina" she stares into the fire while continuing

"I…" she stops at loss for words. Regina doesn't say a word, but grabs inside into her coat and pulls out the Jack Daniel's shirt. Holding it out to Emma.

"My shirt…" she turns her head just a slightly bit towards Regina and attempts to take it from her, when Regina snatches it back.

"No, this is not how it's going to be, Emma. You left this at home, on the couch. Carelessly. You leave your things all over the place. I sometimes believe you do it to annoy me on purpose. The truth is…When I found it I realized I want you to mess up my living-room..." Emma looks up to her, seeking clarification that she has heard her right

"…I want you to mess up the mansion, because without you it wouldn't be home… I want you to mess up my life, because Emma…." Emma's eyes drift to her pulse-point, indicating her discomposure.

"Damn it, because I love you, Emma. I love you and it scares me and I don't even want to love you, because it makes me weak, but still…I do" Emma nods, speechless.

"And I can't believe it, you got me to start swearing like a sailor….you got me driving through the forest into a storm, which is already unbelievably stupid, but then also my car broke down and I did the even more stupid thing of walking through that storm to you… and you got me to be afraid... you got me to be scared that I'll lose you..." She sighs and stares into the flames before looking at Emma again and saying

"What are you doing to me, Emma?"

Emma couldn't believe what she was hearing and reacts instinctively.

No words were needed, an act could convey so much more meaning.

She reads every emotion on Regina's face, and carefully nears her face to Regina's. When they are a few breaths apart she whispers

"The same you do to me, every day..." She closes her eyes and leans her forehead against Regina's, tenderly grabbing Regina's face with her left hand. She opens her eyes, not believing that this is really happening, and closes her eyes again to seize the moment.

They kiss.

Thanks for reading! :)


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